Indonesian Weddings

Indonesian weddings can be very large and exciting events. While some of them are simple gatherings at the families' homes, some of them are elaborate events with hundreds or even thousands of guests. At these celebrations the couple's parents invite everyone that the family is even remotely acquainted with. Friends, business associates, colleagues, etc.- many of whom the bride and groom may not even know themselves. A lot of planning goes into an Indonesian wedding, and it's not uncommon for the families to send out over 1,000 invitations.

Needless to say, an Indonesian wedding can be a social event, and the bride and groom will even greet each individual guest to thank them for their kindness. Guests must wait in a long line for their chance to be greeted by the bride and groom. After each guest is greeted, the reception will begin. Most guests are only invited to the reception, while the wedding ceremonies are intended for the closest friends and relatives of the couple. Indonesian wedding ceremonies can last for many days, and the majority of the guests only stay at the reception for a half hour or so. Some of them may even have other weddings to attend later that same day!

The History of Bandung

Bandung, Indonesia is currently the hub of West Java and is regarded as a place where the earliest Java Man, or the Australoputhecus, have lived. The banks and the Great Lake of Bandung are said to have been the exact place where the Java Man resided. That was proven with the discovery of artifacts in Dago. Some these artifacts were brought to the Geological Museum to be preserved for future references.

Apart from the Java Man, who lived for years in the shores of Bandung, there were also the Sundanese. Sundanese people are native groups that were mostly comprised of Muslims. These people lived in fertile areas and soon developed a unique oral theater called the Wayang Golek that makes use of puppets. The puppet theater was used to display the creativity of the people. Music was also a specialty of the Sundanese, which shows the diversity and the musical skills of these groups. A group of Europeans visited the city and discovered the richness of the land. So, in 1786 a road connecting Bandung, Cianjur, Bogor, and Jakarta, was built. And in 1809, Louis Napoleon ordered the Governor General to intensify the defense of the city from the English. The Great Post Road (Groote Postweg) that was built was too far from Bandung's capital. So, the Governor General instructed to have the capital of the city relocated. The relocation became a success and because of the deep root of traditions by the people, a Grand Mosque (Mesjid Agung) was built.

Javanese Dance - A Historical Color in Modern Life

Looking into temple reliefs at Prambanan and Borobudur, the two temples that have been became a silent witness of Javanese history, means that you are looking to a long history of Javanese dance. As shown by those two reliefs, it is easy to conclude that the dance has become an important part of Java's society. Even if you do not understand the philosophical meaning of a their dance, you could easily see the mystical boundary that surrounded Javanese's life since a hundred years ago.

Nowadays, dance is still featured in Javanese's modern life. It is become an important part of any ceremonies, festivals, and community's celebration, whether it's in villages, towns, or even in urban center. The Javanese dance now, it's not just an ordinary ritual performed by ordinary people. It is performed by professional dancer, which relatively young and able to improve, stylize, and combine the classical value with the modern touch. Fact has it that even modern Java's society is moving in a rapid acceleration due to globalization, the essence of classic dance is remain there and never forgotten.

Traditional Javanese Wedding Ceremony - Javanese Wedding Ideas

The nation of Indonesia is a land of many cultures. There are thought to be more than three hundred languages and cultures that make up the lives of the two hundred million people living there.

Indonesia herself is made up of more than 13,677 separate islands. Because of the wide variety of cultures, this has made an impact on ceremonies of marriage that are performed there. Every Indonesian wedding has a particular ceremony that is based on the family's cultural beliefs. The ceremony of marriage is not just a joining of two people, but a bond between the two families as well.

Ecotourism at Bintan Island

Bintan Island is famous for ecotourism. It's an amazing destination with beautiful beaches and nature wonders. It has its own historical significance for it to be a main trading port in the South-East Asia region during 16th century. If you take your Indonesia flights this is the perfect place to learn Indonesian culture which is exciting as well as educational experience. This island has every thing that you can wish to see during your holiday. It is largest of 3,200 islands in the Riau Archipelago and the third largest of the 26 provinces in the country. The Island has a cultural mix of Malay, Bugis, Chinese and a unique tribe called the Orang Laut.

Bintan Elephant Park: This is the perfect place to get a wonderful chance of getting closer to these gentle giants. It is home to seven Sumatran elephants. Your flights to Indonesia give you the opportunity of an interactive adventure. One may take an elephant ride into the forest or feed an elephant, or simply sit back and see an elephant show that will allow you to observe their varied diet and eating habits. A tour to this place will educate you about their characteristics, food source, living habits and group behavior. The elephants here are trained well to perform different antics such as making different turns perfectly, swimming, and dancing etc.

Top 10 Things to Do in Bali

Indonesia is a country with many things to do.

Here the ten things to do in Indonesia that everyone will surely enjoy.

1. Pamper yourself - massage anyone? Here in Indonesia, you can indulge with the great massage treats that are truly relaxing and soothing for your tired bodies. There are several massage centers here that offers very relaxing services for everyone. There are specific spas that are exclusive for tourists so one will definitely have a really great time.

2. Visit the Indonesian temples - when planning a vacation trip to Bali, include to your schedule to visit some of the well known shrines and temples of the place. A temple or two would complete your whole Bali trip.

Top Destinations And Activities That You Must Not Miss At Bali

Bali is one of the most famous holiday destinations in Asia, with many beautiful coastline, spectacular scenery, picturesque hillside rice terraces, magnificence active volcanoes over 3000 meters high, lush tropical forests full of exotic wildlife and rich cultural heritage with over 20000 temples and palaces. It has been voted regularly as the world most enchanting holiday destination by tourists that enjoy their Bali tour.

Bali has many beautiful and famous beach resorts. Sanur is the first developed beach resort in Bali. The rapid growth of development in tourism did not affecting the Balinese culture practiced by the people here. Therefore tourists today are able to see many spectacular Balinese temples that are well-preserved here, along with its beautiful beaches.

Bali Travel Tips and Tricks For Tourists

Browse through any of the well known travel magazines and you're sure to find Bali, Indonesia, listed among the top 10 travel destinations in the world. With its exotic blend of ancient culture, majestic scenery, the world's finest hotels and the warmth of the tropical oceans surrounding the island paradise, it's hardly surprising.
  

Bali is located in the Indonesian archipelago only eight degrees south of the Equator. The island measures 90 kilometres (55 miles) from north to south and 140 kilometres (90 miles) from east to west, making it easy to go out for an excursion anywhere in Bali and return to your hotel by nightfall.

Towering volcanic peaks that rise mystically through the clouds, terraced rice paddies carved into the mountainous landscape, iridescent crater lakes, lush tropical rain forests and sandy white beaches lapped by warm ocean currents are only a few of the wonders that draw millions of visitors to this tiny island each year.

8 Steps On How To Make Batik

Are you interested to make your own batik? Or you want to learn to create this beautiful art. Or perhaps you are just looking for the tutorial on how to making batik. In this article you find what you want.

Tools for making batik:

Some of the tools here are in Indonesian term but I'm sure you will understand.

Street Food of Bali

Like most South East Asian countries, Indonesia is proud of its vibrant street-food culture. Growing out of necessity, road side stalls offers busy Indonesians on the go everything from a quick snack to a satisfying meal cheaply and conveniently. Across Indonesia's many islands and provinces you can expect to find roadside vendors, known locally as warungs, all over the place dishing out sumptuous traditional fare. The warungs of Indonesia's island province of Bali have always been popular not only among the locals but also, increasingly, for tourists.

Bali's warungs have received a boost in recent years by being featured in globetrotting celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain's highly popular travel show No Reservations. Famous for eschewing fussy, pretentious hotel meals for simple and honest local fare, Mr. Bourdain has enthusiastically given his mark of approval to the venerable Balinese warung. One such example is Naughty Nuri's located near Ubud in central Bali. Not your typical Warung, Naughty Nuri is famous for its traditional Balinese barbecue dishes as well as tourist friendly martinis and sashimi specials.

How To Make A Pecel - A Good Dish From Indonesia

Ingredients

* 150 gram Kangkoong
* 150 gram long beans, cut 2cm
* 150 gram spinach
* 200 gram carrot
* salt up to you
* crackers

How to make the peanut sauce

* 250 gram peanut beans
* 6 chili
* 1 sendok teh kencur cincang
* 3 garlic
* 3 orange leaves
* 1 teaspoon asam jawa
* 1/4 teaspoon terasi
* 300 ml water
* salt and sugar up to you

Spicy and Seductive Indonesian Traditional Food

There is nothing like going for some Indonesian Traditional Food. Once you have filled your week with enough local and fast food, or you have gone a month with eating European and world fairs from the many restaurants located island wide, it would be time to visit one of the authentic Indonesian Traditional Food restaurants in Singapore. I think the word I would use to describe the food would be 'flavour'.

There is just a burst, and explosion of savoury taste that I experience whenever I bite into a well prepared Indonesian meal. I just cannot say no to a well prepared 'rendang' meal, there is nothing like the heavy coconut gravy and the almost melt in your mouth chunks of meat that accompany it, a perfect complement to the bowl of fragrant rice that accompanies it. The meat is tender and the servings are always known to be extremely generous. They are no slouch when it comes to their chicken either, roasted or grilled, they are liberated from their tasteless forms with a whole variety of spices and chillies that make for an excellent dining experience. The meat just melts of the bone and the spices and chilli that they use are simply exquisite, a burst of flavour at every bite. Then how can we forget the 'tahu telur', one of the signature dishes of traditional Indonesian dishes.

Where to Eat in Jakarta?

These are just some of the places that you can go to satisfy your Indonesian food craving or to start having your Indonesia culinary adventure.

Saung Granvil

For the best seafood in town, you definitely have to go to Saung Grenvil in West Jakarta. Its location in the Grenvil residential complex might throw off unsuspecting connoisseur but their mouth-watering dishes speak for themselves.

The restaurant's most popular item is the "Kepiting Lada Hitam" or Black Pepper Crabs but my personal favorite is Steamed Male Crab, which can weigh more than 2 kg each. The best part of the dining experience is that you get to pick the crabs, which will be weighed on the spot.

Greenville Blok AV No 12A Kedoya - Jakarta Barat
Opening Hours: 10 AM - 11 PM

Bandung - Embark on Romance, Indulgence, Nature and Culinary Trails

The people of Bandung are probably some of the most fortunate group of people on this earth. With its U-shaped bowl-like landscape located almost 1km above sea-level, Bandung is surrounded with large mountains with few of them classified as still active volcanoes. The temperature constantly hovers around 15-25 degree Celsius (68-77 degree Farenheit) throughout the year, the ideal temperature for most of us. Various natural factors such as the volcanic soil, high rainfall and temperate climates contributes to high level of soil fertility and perfect agricultural ground. Once labeled as Paris Van Java (The Paris of Java), Bandung is always ready to enchant every of her visitors. Here are the 5 trails you should not miss when you are in Bandung.

Bali in the Global Village

After the New Order government rose to power in 1965, the Western world again became entranced with Bali. But these new foreigners who flocked to Bali's mythic shores were of a different breed than the cultivated, culture-crazed crew of the 1920s and 30s. It was the turn of the 1970s, and the hippies had landed. With their long, flowing hair, their free-spirited ways, and their feathered and beaded finery stuffed into backpacks, these counter-cultural types found Bali the perfect place to enact their ideas of an alternative lifestyle. Resurrecting the old images of Bali as a center of peace, harmony, ancient wisdom and the infamous love magic, they swarmed the beaches of Kuta and began creating their own society, centered around the worship of sea, sun, spiritual communion and limitless libido. Those were the days when Kuta was still a sleepy-eyed village, dotted with small homestays and simple food stalls, where for only a few dollars a day one could find all the nourishment needed in the form of tropical fruit, tofu, magic mushrooms and hallucinogenic sunsets. As word of Bali's blissful beachfront bounty spread, other adventurers followed, especially surfers drawn to Bali's coral-strewn coastline, which soon gained worldwide fame as the wildest place in the East to catch a wave.

Savory Martabak - Delicious As a Snack and Loved by Everyone

Martabak Telor or Savory Martabak is very delicious as a snack and as a company for white rice as a side dish. This snack is loved by many people especially in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. 

We use so much leeks and eggs to make this savory and delicious snacks. And it's pretty easy to make. You can make your eat table in just short of time the place where the whole family keeps coming back to taste this snacks. Everybody would love this. No doubt about it.

Use the paste of gulai to make this snack.

Make Indonesian Spicy Food - "Rendang" From Padang

Indonesia have thousands of Island, the second biggest Island is Sumatera. Sumatera is divided into six Provinces, and one of them is West Sumatera. There is a famous city at this province named Padang City.

Besides richness of customs and many good destinations, Padang has hundreds of food recipes. If you visiting Padang City one time, don't forget to taste The Padang Cuisine. Padang Cuisine one of the famous Indonesian culinary.

Padang was famous with the spicy foods that is Rendang, base material rendang from egg or meat and red pepper.

Silat - A Deadly Indonesian Martial Art

Silat refers to a collection of martial arts from Southeast Asia. Silat was developed in a region where tribal warfare, hunting were common activities. Tribes fought over property, trade routes and even engaged in cannibalism. Tribes also fought as a group in ways that enabled them to catch large animals. They would wait for an individual to stray away from companions and then multiple attackers would use knives, clubs and other weapons in order to bring down the victim.

In addition to the tribalism that shaped this martial art, the area in which Silat developed also frequently fell prey to invasion from outside forces. China, Japan, and even the Dutch invaded Indonesia and the surrounding areas. Silat practitioners learned to defend themselves against these outside forces but also learned from them. Silat also derived much from the immigration of the Chinese. Silat practitioners learned and adapted the arts the Chinese brought with them. Consequently, Silat includes its own version of Kung Fu, Tai Chi, and other martial arts forms.